Residents block only road to Bojong dump site
Residents block only road to Bojong dump site
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Consistent with their firm objection to the operation of a waste
treatment plant in their area, hundreds of residents of Bojong in
Klapanunggal district, Bogor, West Java, erected on Sunday a wall
to block the only road into the plant.
Some 500 residents arrived at the area at around 9 a.m. and
immediately started putting up a 13-meter-wide and 45-centimeter-
high wall in front of the plant's main gate to make sure that no
truck could enter the plant.
"We collected construction materials from the residents. We
hope we can finish erecting by the afternoon. The wall shows that
we will do anything to stop the plant from operating in our
neighborhood," local resident Suhari told The Jakarta Post.
The plant, constructed in 2003, is meant to incinerate one-
third of Jakarta's daily waste of 6,000 tons. The plant would
reduce Jakarta's dependence on Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi, West
Java.
However, Bojong residents have repeatedly held rallies and put
up blockades to stop the construction and trial run of the plant.
The last time the dump operator attempted a trial run of the
equipment in the facility on Nov. 22, 2004, residents gathered
outside the plant to protest against the use of the dump due to
the harmful impact on the health of residents in the surrounding
area.
The protest soon turned violent and several people had to be
hospitalized for their injuries.
Twenty-four police were reprimanded for using unnecessary
force to quell the protest, and 18 Bojong residents were jailed
for causing damage to the dump.
Since then, the Jakarta administration has looked into the
possibility of setting up waste treatment plants in the capital
and on Friday it announced that it had short-listed five
companies, including foreign firms, to carry out waste treatment
projects. The five firms were Keppel Seghers Group with its local
partner PT Azara Putra Perkasa, Jakarta Renewable Energy, Kwarta
Daya Pratama, Enviro Green and Sapta Krida.
Members of the Bogor Regency Council have said that they would
prefer the dump to suspend its operations and, if possible, find
a new site.
A special team of the House of Representatives had also
recommended the closure of the plant as its presence violates
land zoning regulations. The team said the construction of the
site had violated Bogor Bylaw No. 27/1998 stipulating that the
area in question is a zoned as a residential, tourism and
agricultural area.
Subsequently, State Minister of the Environment Rachmat
Witoelar told the House of Representatives that the trial should
not proceed.
He said that a joint team of experts from his office, the
Office of the State Ministry for Research and Technology and the
Jakarta administration had recommended the operations be shelved.
The team was assigned to determine the feasibility of the
plant, including studying the impact analysis and problems in the
field.
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) activist Erwin
Usman, who has accompanied the residents in their rallies, said
that the building of the wall was aimed at sending a clear signal
to the government that residents would not allow the dump site to
be made operational.
"The dump site clearly violates the law. We just want the
government to enforce the law. The residents want the plant to be
stopped permanently," he said.